Shares in Intesa Sanpaolo slump as Italian bank is rocked by hoax claim about boss

Hoax: Intesa Sanpaolo shares fell before recovering after it emerged that the statement was a fake

Shares in a major Italian bank slumped yesterday after a fake letter suggesting its chief executive had fiddled the books was released.

A statement claiming to be from Intesa Sanpaolo, which has an office in London, said it had ‘received today a letter from its managing director and chief executive Carlo Messina’.

The hoax release added: ‘Carlo Messina admitted that he had manipulated the accounts, by exaggerating the net income by €1.920million in 2014. In the light of this new information, Intesa Sanpaolo would record a net loss for 2014.’

It claimed to have appointed one of his deputies Gaetano Miccichè ‘to steer the group through this crisis’.